Investing and Entrepreneurship with Dooma Wendschuh
THE RICHARD DRI PODCAST
Dooma Wendschuh is the co-founder and shareholder of Province Brands of Canada, a Canadian company located in Grimsby, Ontario, who has developed a proprietary technology that can take virtually any plant material and produce fermentable sugars, which in turn can be used to make beverages including premium beers. The best part of the process is that the cost to make this beer is equal to approximately the same cost as it would to take and make regular beer, so Dooma has a beer that is better for the planet and for the consumer, a win-win situation.
In today’s episode, Dooma discusses how he raised $23 million so far, how he pitches the company to potential investors, and the company’s plan to grow in the U.S. and in Canada. He also shares his investment strategy, provides his criteria for selecting successful private companies, and explains why he sold all his publicly-traded stocks several months before the U.S. election, as well as his biggest mistake or disappointment. Dooma brings the episode to a close by explaining the two skills that an entrepreneur must learn to balance in order to be successful, his definition of financial independence, and the reason why so many investors have fallen into the trap of chasing the goals of others rather than their own personal goals.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST – DOWNLOAD THE TRANSCRIPT
Highlights:
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- Province Brands of Canada’s technology allows brewers the opportunity to rely on locally sourced premium ingredients to make phenomenal beverages.
- They raised $4 million in funding when they started and have now raised $23 million.
- Dooma has four pools or buckets of money that he invests in different locations, and he has different objectives for each of them.
- When investing in companies, he needs to know the industry is fundamentally sound and that the entrepreneur running it will pivot if necessary and find a way to make it successful.
- For Dooma, the secret to success is to weigh the delicate balance between never giving up and knowing when to pivot.
Quotes:
“It’s light. It’s refreshing. It has an amazing flavor, and it can have many different amazing flavors.”
“Once you have a solution, and you have a proof of concept and technology and something that the investors can taste and try, it becomes a whole lot easier to raise that money, but it is a real challenge.”
“For the most part, I’ve had a lot of success by just investing in the person and in the industry.”
“That’s all that business is, is just a series of crucial moments where you have to make decisions.”
“The money is a tool, and the objective is happiness.”
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